McDonough ballot fraud retrial gets under way

By Andrew Beam

Friday, November 16, 2012

TROY -- The retrial of Rensselaer County Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner Edward McDonough got underway on Friday with opening arguments heard from the prosecution claiming he failed to do his job while the defense said the wrong man is on trial.

Both Special Prosecutor Trey Smith and defense attorney Brian Premo had their chance to lay out their vision of what the result of the trial should bring. Smith was first up and told the story of how McDonough, a man who whose job is supposed to be helping the voters, deliberately violated their rights for his own political gain.

"None of this would have happened if he had done his job," Smith said. "He did just the opposite. He did everything he could to complete the con. He did everything he could to complete the fraud. This was an inside job and he was the man on the inside."

There are currently 73 counts against McDonough for his alleged involvement in the 2009 Working Families Party primary ballot fraud scandal. There are 38 counts for second-degree forgery and 35 counts for second-degree possession of a forged instrument, all of which Smith contends McDonough had a hand in forging or knew were forged.

Smith said there were several witnesses, such as former city Councilman John Brown and Democratic Party operative Anthony Renna, both of whom have been convicted in this case, who saw McDonough in possession of the forged ballots. Some of them even witnessing McDonough fill out the "excuse" and "deliver to" fields on the absentee ballots.

Premo has, in the past and during his opening remarks, made mention of the fact Smith had met with some of his witnesses previously, which Judge George Pulver made clear to the jury is not illegal, and claimed the plea deals for some show a lot of leniency.

"If these cooperating witnesses were going to make up stories just to please me and get sweetheart deals, wouldn't they just make up a full confession?" Smith said, adding this was something McDonough wanted to be quiet about. "I didn't pick these witnesses. He did."

Premo tried to characterize his client as someone who was just doing their job and had nothing to do with the scandal that occurred. He pinned most of what happened on Brown, Councilman Kevin McGrath, C-District 1, and former City Clerk Bill McInerney, who also plead guilty in the case.

McGrath testified during the previous trial, where McDonough and former City Councilman Michael LoPorto were tried together in what eventually ended in a mistrial, with a conditional cooperation agreement, which he will be doing as well in this trial. The agreement includes immunity for his cooperation and honesty in the trial. A jury found LoPorto not guilty during his second trial earlier this year.

Premo was quick to note McGrath is a convicted felon and was an ambitious man bragging about how he would earn a spot of the Working Families Party line. He also said Brown's motive was to get as many votes as possible so he could become city Council president, a stepping stone in the path to becoming mayor.

"It comes down to political ambition of primarily one person and another secondary person," Premo said. "In local politics, there is no worse tragedy of an unnecessary crash of a career than John Brown's."

Premo also spent a good portion of his remarks questioning why it took so long for a finger to be pointed at McInerney, claiming that Anthony DiFiglio -- who used to work at the Troy Housing Authority where much of the fraud occurred and who plead guilty for his role in the scheme -- told New York State Police Investigator John Ogden about him being the point man in one of his statements. Also pointing out it was McDonough who provided evidence from the BOE showing McInerney was involved in forging ballots. It was then, Primo said, McInerney flipped on McDonough.

"Listen, you're going to hear from the mouths of babes," Premo said. "McDonough was not in bed with anyone. He is an office worker."

The trial got off to a late start Friday as one alternate juror was let go over a conflict. A supplemental jury pool filed into the courtroom and attorneys and Pulver whittled the group down to two alternates. This making the jury count 12 jurors and four alternates.